Shower stall door hinge



Nov. 15, 1938. w STAHL 2,136,729

SHOWER STALL DOOR HINGE J Filed Dec. 7, 1935 INVENTOR BY Will/om J/a// ATTORNEY Patented Nov l5, 1938 snownn srannno'onnmon William sum, mmaa, cant;

Application December 1, mastermind; 1'14 571"" e r mm. (cures-46) My invention relates to hinges for'doors, and particularly, although not necessarily to hinges.

for the doors of shower stalls.

Such stall door hinges as heretofore proposed are of the butt type and, hence, structurally complex and therefore costly to manufacture, and ineffective to prevent water leaking outwardly between the hinged edge of the door and the doorway.

It is a purpose of my invention to provide a hinge for shower stall doors characterized by its structural simplicity, durability, low cost of manufacture and easy mode of assembly, and wherein the parts of the hinge are so related one to the other that in applied position on a door and jamb and the loor in closed position, the

hinge functions to prevent leakage of water from the stall outwardly between the door and jamb.

I will describe only one form of hinge for shower stall doors, embodying my invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof, in

claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view showing in front outside elevation a door applied to a shower stall and in closed position, and having applied to the door and stall one form of hinge embodying my invention.

Fig 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 viewing the door from the inside and with the latter in open position.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the door in open position, and taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlargedsectional perspective view of the hinge only,

Referring specifically to thedrawing, my invention in its present embodiment consists of a hinge made of two main parts, one part comprising a jamb strip l5 constructed of metal, and the other part comprising a metal plate or a metal frame ii of a door, and particularly a door for closing the doorway of a shower stall where, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the frame supports a plate of glass l1 therein.

The jamb strip I5 is adapted to be secured to one vertical tiled wall l8 of the doorway of the shower stall. This strip I5 is coextensive in length with the wall l8, and screws iii are employed for fixedly securing the strip to the wall. At the inner edge or stall side edge of the jamb strip it is formed with an abutment flange 20 extending at right angles therefrom. It is against this flange 20 that the door frame it is 'cross section.

- door frame is parallel tothe jamb strip. At its outside'edgethejambstrip l i'isformed 5 with an elongated tongue 2| coextensive in length with the strip and ourvedlnwardly to. form a coextensive groove 22 attheiinnersi'de thereof.

Adjacent and to the inner side of thetongue 2i the strip itself is formed with a groove 23 coextensive in length therewith.*' 'Ihe transverse curvature of this groove is such that it coacts with the transverse curvature of thegroove 22 to form therewith a groove of involute curvature in The plate or frame l6 of the hingeis formed with a tongue 24 complemental to and coextensive in length with the tongue 2|. This tongue 24 is likewise transversely curved but oppositely to that of the tongue 2|; to define a 20 groove 25 the transverse curvature of which is struck from a single radius. Thus, the adjacent wall It of the door frame Hi from which the tongue projects, is tangent to this groove curvature.

With a hinge constructed as described, it is 2 necessary in order to operatively connect one hinge part to the other to present the end of one tongue to that of the other, so that the tongue 24 canbe extended endwise into the involute groove of the other tongue 2| and the latter tongue extended into the groove 25 of the tongue 24. In this manner the two tongues are interconnected to allow free turning movement of one on the, other through a degree angle. Because of the 3 transverse curvatures of the grooves 22, 23 and 24 and the outside curvatures of the tongues, the tongues can be turned one on the other without any lateral or transverse movement of the tongues relatively. In this manner any possibility of the 4 door sagging on the jamb is prevented. For securing the tongues against endwise relative moment, when once assembled as described, screws 26, 26 are threaded in the strip l5 (Fig. 3) so as to extend into slots 21 formed transversely in the tongue 24 (Fig. 5). Such a securing means permits the necessary turning movement of one tongue on the other, yet the tongues cannot shift lengthwise relatively.

Manifestly, where my hinge is applied to a 50 shower stall door, it is necessary to first apply flange 20 innermost, the two hinge tongues serve 55 right angular open position shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The open position of the door is defined by the wall It abutting the fiat portion of the tongue 2 I, while the closed position is defined by the door frame abutting the jamb strip.

In the adaptation of my hinge to a shower stall door, it provides the advantage of preventing water leaking between the parts of the hinge when the door is in closed position.. From an inspection of Fig. 3, it will be apparent that the free longitudinal edge of one tongue contacts throughout its length with the grooved side of the other tongue when the door is in closed position. In

this manner a double seal is formed between the two tongues which prevents the passage of water outwardly from between the tongues even when the water is sprayed directly against the hinge.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of shower stall hinge embodying my invention, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the spirit of my invention and the spirit and'scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination; a vertical jamb strip having a flange on one vertical edge the other vertical edge being formed with a groove, and a tongue both of which are coextensive in length with the jamb strip and curved transversely inward, with the curve of the groove and the inner curve of the tongue combining to form an involute curve while the curvature of the tongues outer sides is struck from a single radius and tangent to the adjacent vertical edge of said strip; a tongue on one vertical edge of the door coextensive in length therewith disposed between the sides thereof, and curved transversely outward from a single radius to form on its concave side a groove tangent to the vertical door edge, said tongues extending into the grooves of each other so that the door is mounted on the jamb to swing from a closed position in which the door abuts the flange, and the free vertical edges of the tongues contact with the walls of the respective tongue grooves for forming a liquid tight joint between the tongues, to an open position in which the confronting walls of the tongues contact with each other and the confronting walls of the door and the lamb strip abut each other; and means for securing the tongues against endwise relative movement.

2. In combination; a vertical jamb strip having a flange on one vertical edge thereof and an integral tongue on the other vertical edge coextensive in length therewith and continuously curved inwardly from said edge; a door having a frame; a tongue on one vertical edge of the frame coextensive in length therewith, situated between the sides thereof, and curved transversely outwardly, said tongues engaging one within the other so that the door frame is mounted on the jamb to swing from a closed position in which the door frame abuts the flange and the free vertical edges of the tongues contact with the respective confronting walls of the tongues, to an open positioning in which the confronting walls of the door frame and the jamb strip contact with each other.

3. A hinge comprising a strip having a tongue thereon curving inwardly away fromvan outer longitudinal edge thereof to define a groove in said strip, a second strip having a tongue thereon curving outwardly toward an outer longitudinal edge thereof to define a groove in said second strip, said tongues having interlocking engagement with one another whereby each of their edges are in simultaneous contact with the wall of the groove formed by the other tongue when said longitudinal edges face in the same general direction.

4. A hinge as defined in claim 3, wherein the edges of said tongues face in generally opposite directions when simultaneously contacting the walls of said grooves.

5. A hinge as defined in claim 3, wherein the wall of one of said grooves is an arc of a circle, and the edge of the tongue engageable therewith contacts it continuously to prevent relative translatory lateral movement between said strips.

6. In combination. a stationary jamb strip having a tongue thereon curving inwardly away from an outer longitudinal edge thereof to define an inwardly opening groove in said strip, a door adapted to open outwardly and having a tongue thereon curving outwardly toward a longitudinal edge thereof to define an outwardly opening groove in said door, said tongues having interlocking engagement, with at least an edge of one tongue in contact with the wall of the groove formed by the other tongue.

7. The combination defined by claim 6, wherein the edges of said tongues are in simultaneous contact with the wall of the groove formed by the other tongue when said door is in closed position.

WILLIAM STAHL. 

